Interesting Facts About Pennsylvania

interesting facts

(Interesting Fact) During the days in which exploration of the states was prominent, the lechuguila species created a deadly obstacle for those who were exploring the southwest by ways of horses, because when riding, the leaves which were very sharp would puncture the horses' legs.

(Interesting Fact) A reference to the fire side of Hailfire Peaks was made by Gobi in Banjo-Kazooie (when you meet him at Click Clock Woods).

(Interesting Fact(s)) It is estimated that enough straw is incinerated each year in the U.S. to build 5 million 2000 square foot homes.

pennsylvania

A state in the northeastern US, with a short coastline along Lake Erie in the far northwest; pop. 12,281,054; capital, Harrisburg; statehood, Dec. 12, 1787 (2). Founded in 1682 by William Penn, it became one of the original thirteen states

one of the British colonies that formed the United States

a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies

University of Pennsylvania: a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

interesting facts about pennsylvania - More Than

More Than Matzah: A Passover Feast of Fun, Facts, and Activities (Let's Celebrate)

Titles in Barron’s growing Let’s Celebrate Series describe religious and secular holidays, explaining each holiday’s origins and history, discussing how it is celebrated today, and suggesting holiday-related projects and activities that kids can take part in. Each spring, beginning on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, Jews around the world celebrate the holiday of Passover. They set the table with special foods and symbols, read from a book called the Haggadah, and recall the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, led by Moses more than 3,000 years ago. The first part of this book tells children the story of how Moses was raised in Egypt by the pharaoh’s daughter but retained his identity as an Israelite, grew up to become the leader of his people, and eventually led the Israelites toward the Promised Land. The book’s second part suggests Passover projects and activities for children, including a Seder-clock decoration, a Seder plate to hold the symbolic Seder foods, and other holiday items. There are also ideas of Passover-related children’s games, songs, and more. Handsome color illustrations throughout

A travesty of Justice revealed. Please Read the description below the photo.

The state militia and the Coal and Iron Police patrolled the district. Union leaders were "excoriated by the press," and were "denounced from altar and pulpit." On May 12, John Siney, the union leader who had addressed miners at the Avondale disaster, and who favored arbitration and had opposed the strike, was arrested at a mass meeting called to protest the importation of strike breakers. An organizer for the miners' national association by the name of Xingo Parkes was also arrested, along with twenty-six other union officials, all on a charge of conspiracy. Judge John Holden Owes instructed the jury that,
...any agreement, combination or confederation to increase or depress the price of any vendible commodity, whether labor, merchandise, or anything else, is indictable as a conspiracy under the laws of Pennsylvania.
When he sentenced two of the union officials, Judge Owes addressed them,
I find you, Joyce, to be president of the Union, and you, Maloney, to be secretary, and therefore I sentence you to one year's imprisonment
When Franklin Gowen first hired the Pinkerton agency, he had claimed the Molly Maguires were so powerful they had made capital and labor "their puppets." When the trials of the alleged puppet-masters opened, Gowen had himself appointed as special prosecuter. He thus put himself in the position to personally ask the state, in courtrooms that were guarded by militia with bayonets fixed, to execute the union men that had struck his coal mines.
The first trial of defendants McGeehan, Carroll, Duffy, James Boyle, and James Roarity for the killing of Benjamin Yost commenced in May, 1876. Yost had not recognized the men who attacked him. Although Kerrigan has since been described, along with Duffy, as hating the night watchman enough to plot his murder, Kerrigan became a state's witness and testified against the union leaders and other miners. However, Kerrigan's wife testified in the courtroom that her husband had committed the murder. She testified that she refused to provide her husband with clothing while he was in prison, because he had "picked innocent men to suffer for his crime." She stated that her speaking out was voluntary, and that she was interested only in telling the truth about the murder. Gowen cross-examined her, but could not shake her testimony. Others supported her testimony amid speculation that Kerrigan was receiving special treatment due to the fact that James McParlan was engaged to his sister-in-law, Mary Ann Higgins. This trial was declared a mistrial due to the death of one of the jurors. A new trail was granted two months later. During that trial Fanny Kerrigan did not testify. The five defendants were sentenced to death. Kerrigan was allowed to go free.
On June 21, 1877, six men were hanged in the prison at Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, and four were hanged at Mauch Chunk, in Carbon County. A scaffold had been erected in the Carbon County prison. State militia with fixed bayonets surrounded the prisons and the scaffolds. Miners arrived with their wives and children from the surrounding areas, walking through the night to honor the accused, and by nine o'clock "the crowd in Pottsville stretched as far as one could see." The families were silent, which was "the people's way of paying tribute" to those about to die. Tom Munley's aged father had walked more than ten miles from Gilberton to assure his son that he believed in his innocence. Munley's wife had arrived a few minutes after they closed the gate, and they refused to open it even for close relatives to say their final good-byes. She screamed at the gate with grief, throwing herself against it until she collapsed, but she was not allowed to pass.
Four members of the Molly Maguires, Alexander Campbell, John "Yellow Jack" Donohue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, were hanged on June 21, 1877 at a Carbon County, Pennsylvania prison in Mauch Chunk (renamed Jim Thorpe in 1953), for the murder of mine bosses John P. Jones and Morgan Powell, following a trial that was later described by a Carbon County judge, John P. Lavelle, as follows:
The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows.
Michael J. Doyle and Hugh McGeehan were led to the scaffold. They were followed by Thomas Munley, James Carroll, James Roarity, James Boyle, Thomas Duffy, Edward J. Kelly, Alexander Campbell, John Donahue, .
Ten more of the condemned men, Thomas P. Fisher, John Kehoe, Patrick Hester, Peter McHugh, Patrick Tully, Peter McManus, Dennis Donnelly, Martin Bergan, James McDonald and Charles Sharpe, were hanged at Mauch Chunk, Pottsville, Bloomsburg and Sunbury over the next two years.

Thyme to start growing

This lemon thyme is normally green, but the winter cold turned it a deep purple. (This interesting fact almost made you forget about the horrible pun in the title, didn't it?)

interesting facts about pennsylvania

Cemeteries, abandoned buildings, and roads to nowhere are all that remain of several once-thriving towns in Pennsylvania. This guidebook profiles 46 locations that have been abandoned or left to ruin, and some that have seen new life as historic sites, with discussions on their history, daily life, fall, and current condition.

Cemeteries, abandoned buildings, and roads to nowhere are all that remain of several once-thriving towns in Pennsylvania. This guidebook profiles 46 locations that have been abandoned or left to ruin, and some that have seen new life as historic sites, with discussions on their history, daily life, fall, and current condition.